Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of expanding the range of vaccinations available to livestock in the UK to reduce the risk of zoonoses transmission.

Defra’s priority is protecting public and animal health from disease and supporting our sustainable food and farming sectors. Vaccinating livestock to reduce the risk of zoonotic disease can be an important tool in achieving those aims.

The UK has a strong track record in developing highly effective veterinary vaccines for diseases such as Clostridial disease, Leptospiroses, E. coli for cattle and pigs, Rinderpest and Foot & Mouth Disease, Coccidiosis in poultry, Salmonella in poultry and a range of vaccines for farmed fish. For infectious agents which are not present in the UK but which could present a risk to public health, Defra works closely with the UK Health Security Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care to assess the risks through the Human Animal Infections and Risk Surveillance (HAIRS) group. HAIRS considers the exposure of humans to emerging pathogens through contact and through consumption and provide risk management advice to the chief medical officers and chief veterinary officers of the UK, including on the potential use of vaccines. It is important to note, however, that for several zoonotic diseases present in the UK, vaccination is not always recommended, for example, where they may not be sufficiently effective, are disproportionately costly, are difficult to apply or can have trade implications.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) regulates Veterinary Medicinal Products (VMPs) and assesses applications submitted by the veterinary pharmaceutical industry to authorise and make available good quality, safe and efficacious VMPs, including veterinary vaccines for zoonotic diseases for use by veterinarians in the field to reduce the risk of zoonoses transmission where relevant national disease control programmes allow.

The legislation also allows approval of exceptional Marketing Authorisations to address an urgent situation such as a new disease or where the product is not expected to be sold in vast quantities. Alternatively, where a suitable veterinary vaccine authorised in the UK is not available to treat a disease, a veterinary surgeon may apply to the VMD for a special import certificate, which allows the use of a veterinary vaccine authorised elsewhere in the world; these applications are subject to a risk assessment by the VMD.